“Pain… excruciating pain shot through my body as if I had been bathed in scorching hot magma…” Deus explained in a hushed tone, his voice ragged and shaky. ‘I can’t lie… I can’t lie…’ Those words echoed through his mind as he spoke, taking the warning he received from Roch to heart.

The cloaked elder simply sat there, occasionally nodding along as Deus stuttered out.

“It was like I was no longer in control… the only thought flashing through my mind at the time was that I was going to die, that he was going to stab me... “

“The thought of dying brought out a source of dread from within you?” The elder asked in a hurry, his tone becoming more excited as time passed. He was clearly quite fascinated by the whole experience, wanting to know about each individual emotion and moment.

Originally, Deus believed that he was being questioned and targeted for his killing of someone while within Direfell, but only now had he begun to understand the true reason behind the questions.

Him killing that thug wasn’t the problem, instead, it was simply an unfortunate outcome of a much larger situation. The use of Mir, especially without intending for it.

A power that even a demon such as Rol’an could only struggle to obtain, taking many years to slowly accumulate the knowledge and resources required to wield it. Yet, Deus had simply accidentally tapped into it upon sensing a threat to his life. No prior information, no understanding, not even a hint of authority.

That was the main problem.

“So tell me, from your experience—your viewpoint, how did that man die, exactly?” The elder questioned firmly, his voice cold and absolute.

“Ah…” Deus paused as if to recall the event. It had all occurred far too quickly, so it took him some time to place the memory back into place. “I went down the wrong path and ended up in an alley, only to be targeted by a mugger with a blade. He wanted my money, he wanted whatever I had on me…”

“Skip that part,” the estranged elder ordered as if the actual incident itself meant nothing. “Tell me what happened when he charged at you... when you killed him.”

“Ri-right, alright. He seemed to almost run at me, his knife in hand. Everything happened so quickly, and yet I could almost see him moving in slow motion… like he was barely at a crawl.”

“Time slowed?”

“Mhm,” Deus nodded as he continued, “I saw everything, from his hand placement to even the individual steps he took. Even though I could see it all, I couldn’t do anything about it though… as there was a difference between seeing in slow motion and moving in slow motion.”

“So it felt as if you were stuck, being held captive and unable to prevent your own stabbing?” The elder asked, not being too far off from the truth.

“Right…” Deus grumbled, “One moment I was watching him, unable to stop him from closing the distance with his knife… the next…”

At this point, the aged elder had slowly leaned closer in, as if hanging onto each and every word he spoke. Even though Deus couldn’t see beneath his black-shrouded cloak, he still didn’t seem to be an all-powerful being like what he’d expected after what Roch had warned him about.

“A terrible pain spread through my body… it was so horrible that I even believed without a doubt that he had stabbed me. I remember looking down and expecting to see my stomach cut open,” Deus explained with a brutal stare, recalling the shocking scene that had occurred that day.

He had been drawn back to that moment and had once again relived the fear of what happened.

When it happened, he moved past it quickly, knowing he couldn’t afford to sit still in this new, terrifying world. Now that he’s had time to slowly adjust, however, he finally was forced to come face to face with what happened.

He didn’t have many memories from before his Transfer, but he was relatively certain that he’d never taken a life before that moment. If he had, he didn’t remember.

“That pain grew quickly, going from a sudden gust to a full-on tidal wave. I don’t remember really seeing anything while it happened, it was sort of like how my vision blurred away. It had all happened so quickly, too. I remember feeling horribly ill like I was going to violently cough up my stomach at any moment.”

Deus wavered for a moment as he explained, “Ah... forgive me… it seems that all of these events have finally caught up to me. Seems I’ve been coasting along, not stopping for too long in any one place, so I didn’t really take in everything that’s happened…”

“Take your time, I’m willing to wait a while if it means you’ll explain everything that happened in key detail.”

“Right, right… after my stomach calmed down, I could finally reopen my eyes, the pain no longer as excruciating as it had been. However, all that I saw when my eyes opened was a horribly bloody scene. I’m being honest, I don’t remember what happened when my eyes were closed, but something occurred to smash that mugger into the wall.”

“Into the wall? Ah, yes… I remember hearing about that wall that Roch’s patrol located. From what I heard it was quite the gruesome scene, something that caused even those veteran soldiers to feel sick to their stomach about.”

“The wall was bathed in blood. Like, more blood than you’d think. Just imagine it, an entire wall just soaked deep in blood, the horrible red liquid even dyed into the stonework.”

The robed elder titled his head from beneath his hood, a sinister grin exposed itself from beneath his cowl as he spoke, “You have quite the sickening imagination… don’t you? Perhaps even that is an outcome of circumstance. A child lost within Midnight, a strange new world. Forced to wield a cursed power you should never have had control over.”

“Right, I’m a lost child—” Deus was halfway through speaking before he stopped abruptly, matching the haunting stare of the elder who sat opposite him. “What did you mean by ‘strange new world’?”

A moment passed in silence as the room became awkwardly quiet. “Heh,” the robed elder let out a soft chuckle as he broke the silence. “Since you’ve answered many of my questions, allow me to return the favor.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“What?” Deus questioned almost immediately, seemingly on instinct as his entire body had tensed up.

“You and I will be seeing each other quite often in the future, so I believe introductions are in order,” the elder lifted himself up from his seat as he stood across from Deus, his eye level barely changing even as he went from a seated position to a fully upright stance.

“My name is Cyoc Scoporus. I’m one of the Akeran seers, a bastard offspring of the Impish Ifrit bloodline.” The robed elder, Cyoc, said with a bow. His cowl lowered to reveal an intricately aged face. His expression seemed human, for the most part.

Cyoc was fashioned, however, with two miniature horns that sat atop his forehead, protruding out a mere two inches each. The horns were formed with etchings carved into the bones themselves, shaped in the form of ancient sigils.

His skin was plain and wrinkled, like an elder of an old forgotten clan. His smile was small but visible as he stared at Deus with two pitch black eyes. His gaze weighed heavily, as if his eyes were a gateway to some shadowed, darkened world. No light, no reflection, not even an iris.

“To answer your question from before, regarding my mention of you being in a strange new world...” Cyoc paused deliberately, his venomous black eyes staring continuously, “I’m an ancient seer, one who has served many masters, including even the previous Lord of Direfell from before.”

“You served the previous Lord?” Deus asked cautiously, interested in a direct answer yet also fully aware that he had to keep his line of questioning aimed at Cyoc's pace. “Hold on, what does that have to do with—”

“Indeed,” he interrupted, “I served loyally, as I do now... perhaps even more so back then,” Cyoc reflected as he went on, “That’s not to say I’m not hardworking now, but my attitude as a team player has absolutely lessened as time has gone on. I was very much like those other two from before, back in my day.”

“Other two? Pardon me, but do you mean sir Roch and Androma?” Deus and Cyoc both slowly changed the topic, to the displeasure of the former.

“Exactly so, right.” Cyoc nodded, “That young one Androma is still just a child, barely out of his pubescent stage. Roch, however, has finally become an adult, even if he still has much to learn, especially from an old freak like me. Tell me, Deus… you were able to watch as Roch unleashed that blinding light from before, yes? The one used to defeat that Orion boy.”

“Ah…” Deus exhaled out as he nodded.

“Well then, with all of that power he wielded, did you notice one thing in particular?”

“One thing? Was it that the very air turned stale and froze, or was it the pressure?”

“Neither,” Cyoc exclaimed with a giddy expression. The cloaked elder persona from before had melted away, leaving behind instead a fierce and quick-witted beast, one that carried with it many horrifying secrets. “What you should’ve noticed was how that Roch fellow was pushed, how he shrugged over and heaved under the weight.”

“A single attack, that was all his physical body at this time could maintain. That isn’t to say he is weak, nor it is to say he can only ever land one attack… it simply means wielding the Lord’s power, channeling it through himself, only allowed him one strike before he found himself drained and exhausted.”

“That…” Deus murmured out as he couldn’t finish his thought. “So that attack that blinded everyone, that was an attack on the level of a Lord’s?”

“Exactly so… well, except a Lord wouldn’t stop at one, nor would they restrain the destructive force in fear of killing anyone. It seems that Roch was being emotional when he decided to spare that ugly demon.”

“Wait, mister Roch purposefully spared Roland?”

“Heh,” Cyoc chortled out through a grin, his old features seemed like a mere illusion as his black eyes shone with a terrifying intellect. “Perhaps he has some unknown intention, or perhaps he was simply being nostalgic. Also, before I forget, you should know that the demon’s name was and always has been; Rol’an.”

“Rol’an…” Deus sounded it out carefully, feeling an almost frightening pressure weigh down onto him as he spoke the name. “Why was he known as Roland, though?”

“Perhaps to deceive others and lure in the uninformed? It sounds odd and foolish, but the method works, doesn’t it? After all, you fell for it.”

Deus didn’t know what to say as he simply sat there. Today had been too intense for him, from the incident with the Nijaden being shot down to the demon Rol’an appearing, even the sudden arrival of Androma and Roch.

He’d seen such incredible power unleash itself in battle, destroying a vast amount of land as it swallowed up everything in its path.

After everything was said and done, however, even more frightening and new discoveries just kept coming. From meeting Cyoc, the Akeran seer, to the puzzle that had been weighed on him without receiving any explanations.

Before Deus knew it, his meeting with the mysterious Cyoc Scoporus ended. He was quickly brought back out onto the top of the tower, where he met with the young faun Droh who walked him through everything that had occurred to him while being questioned by the military captain.

There was one thing Deus wasn’t satisfied with, and that was uncovering the truth about what Cyoc knew about him.

Even from the very beginning, Cyoc had hinted at a deeper level of knowledge than even Deus possessed, grasping at information that could alter his understanding in regards to both Mir and even the method known as Transfer.

He thought back to that previous time, upon the moment where he had gathered the mental fortitude to speak up against Cyoc.

“Please, tell me what you know about me, why did you say that I’m a lost child stranded in a strange new world? Answer me!” Even with all of Deus’s pushing, however, Cyoc had simply grinned and left, leaving him with more questions than answers.